22 August 2007

Opening a Restaurant. day one {for me}

Zow. Busy busy busy. A thousand details, and those only scratch the surface.

Today:

dish choosing, glass and stemware options, deep cleaning the kitchen and every single piece of equipment, deciding where new equipment will live, discovering unlovely things in the walk-in, rejoicing at windows that open, meeting the owner and his family, figuring out press issues, looking at tablecloths, filling out purveyor credit applications, interviewing possible staff, moving tables, bringing in canning jars, arguing about produce companies, staking claim, figuring out the dishwasher, climbing inside a reach-in refrigerator to clean every last visible surface area, brainstorming, throwing out weird stuffs, trying to understand the layout of the space-- kitchen and dining areas, thinking on recipes for delicious non-alcoholic beverage choices, discussing cuisine and vision of menus and restaurant,

and attempting to visualize

food in empty plates, wine in empty glasses, diners in empty {comfy} chairs, people in an empty kitchen, the clean floor beneath the grimy one, food in an empty walk-in, organization where there is none, see pictures on empty dark walls, a night sky in a morning room, hear sound in the quiet,

These are great columns about your first days at work!! There's clearly a lot more to being a pastry chef than baking desserts!! You give a wonderful sense of action packed days. Please, get some sleep sometime!!